‘Conan Exiles’ Xbox One Resolution Revealed Along With ‘Frozen North’ Gameplay And AI Tweaks

Funcom hosted a Twitch livestream of Conan Exiles Friday with the Xbox One Game Preview program launch and Frozen North free expansion coming in less than two weeks. Creative Director Joel Bylos revealed some details for the open-world survival title, such as the framerate and resolution for the console version, along with significant changes to the NPC AI and more.

Conan Exiles for the Xbox One and the Frozen North expansion are scheduled to launch on August 16, as previously reported. The expansion will be free for both the PC and console versions as it adds 70 percent more playable area to the game with different environments such as snowy mountains, gloomy forests, and frozen lakes.

The Creative Director preferred to call it an entirely new region with two to three different biomes in it versus just a single new biome.

Xbox One Information

During the Q&A portion of the Conan Exiles livestream, Bylos also revealed the development team is targeting 900p and 30 frames per second at launch. This will be with the graphical features equivalent to the “Medium” quality setting on the PC. Of course, the game is on the list of 4K supported titles for when the Xbox One X launches in November.

An Xbox LIVE Gold subscription will be required to play Conan Exiles online with official or player-run dedicated servers. However, single-player can be played without the Gold subscription.

The number of official servers for the Xbox One launch will be saved for a later date, along with details on how player-run dedicated servers will work and if there is the chance to rent PC servers for the console version of Conan Exiles, as Studio Wildcard has planned for ARK: Survival Evolved.

One other important bit is inventory management for the Xbox One. Funcom is eschewing the traditional hot bar for a radial menu they showed off during the stream. This radial menu is also on the PC when playing with the Xbox One controller, which will hide the hot bar. It will reappear once the player starts using the mouse and keyboard again.

Updates to Gameplay

The Frozen North expansion does not just add new content to Conan Exiles but comes with some significant gameplay and NPC AI changes too.

Stamina management has been re-worked for characters. While it will decrease the same as before, stamina regeneration will be faster.

Shields also received a welcome update by not being as brittle as before. The Frozen North update will increase their durability, so they won’t break after blocking just a few attacks.

One big change is the removal of the ability to sprint while in combat. Bylos said he saw too much “lag jousting” on PVP servers, where players charge one another and then swing as they pass. Sheathing a weapon will allow sprinting once again.

More gameplay changes are in the works with future updates. Funcom wants to get core combat control to a good spot, followed by stamina management and improved shield blocking. Bylos plans to eventually add combo attacks for players to utilize with the intent to add these combo attacks to NPCs afterward.

Updates to AI

Meanwhile, the AI for NPC humans has been updated to make camps much more challenging. The humans won’t go running off in random directions and will chase players down relentlessly. Another example is archers will fire faster the closer a player or enemy is.

This new AI has been applied to Thralls, as well, to make them more effective. Bylos suggests not taking on NPC camps by yourself as you will likely die.

New Frozen North creatures like wolves will present a more fun challenge than the hyenas in the desert, according to Bylos. However, an overhaul of the monster AI is planned for after the work on the human NPC AI is completed.

What do you think about the Conan Exiles Xbox One performance and changes to the gameplay? Sound off in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Funcom]